While there may still be a little bit of sandbagging and the times still aren't super informative we can begin to more accurately piece together how at the very least this weekends Bahrain Grand Prix will go.
Sergio Perez topped the FP1 session on the soft tyre with Verstappen in P3 and it looks as though the Aston Martin hype was real as Fernando Alonso splits the two Redbulls.
As the lights turned green on testing there was still plenty to learn, with Alpine and Williams coming straight out with aero rakes and Ferrari sporting some nice flowvis paint on their car the first session of the season is always an exploratory session.
Mclaren still looked a little bit ropey as rookie Oscar Piastri took an early detour off the track, while Lando spent some of his time in the garage getting repairs when he finally got out on track he had a little bit of a moment where it just looked like it didn't brake for him in time. Although he did put in a good lap time implying there is some speed in the Mclaren.
Ferrari did exhibit an oddly wobbly rear wing, whether this was on purpose or not it did look a little bit effective and surely is not offering them a performance benefit. Carlos Sainz had a moment with 20 minutes left in the session as he spun in to turn 9 pulling off a well executed 360 and managing to keep out of the barrier.
The Redbull came out of the pitlane and looked to continue their strong form from testing,
Lance Stroll got his first run out in the AM23 Aston Martin which took him a bit of time to get used to compared to Fernando Alonso. Martin Whitmarsh giving a quick little smile making us think everything is going to plan.
The Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell looked to us to be at the top end of the midfield in our (semi) professional opinion, but this being FP1 there is still most likely some sandbagging going on.
The session took place in the middle of the day so will not be overly representative of qualifying or the race too much but it does give us a rough look.
Our opinion, this is Redbulls race to lose,
Photo credit: F1